


Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

by alkjira



Series: Nwalin Week [1]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Courtship, Developing Relationship, Happy Ending, M/M, Marriage, People Not Coping Very Well, Post-Battle of Five Armies, Relationship of Convenience, Running Away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-29 22:25:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3912889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alkjira/pseuds/alkjira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bofur, Dori, Dwalin, Nori.<br/>Four Dwarfs who try and find their place after Erebor has been reclaimed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

**Author's Note:**

> (just borrowing the title since it fit so well, this has nothing to do with cold war spies)

They all tried to make new lives for themselves in Erebor, after the battle.

After Thorin, Fíli and Kíli had been returned to the stone, and after Bilbo had returned with Gandalf to the Shire.  
  
Not right away, because right away there was too much grief, and too much to do. Erebor had been the home of a Wyrm for more than one and a half centuries and even with the reinforcements from the Iron Hills there was not one of the Company who didn’t go to bed without aching muscles for the first few months. But it was good in a way, having so many things that needed to be done.  
  
If the body was too busy the mind would keep quiet. And if you fell asleep as soon as you fell into bed there was no time for thinking. Not even dreaming.  
  
It took some time, but as Erebor rose out of the rubble so did the members of Thorin Oakenshield’s Company pick themselves back up.

Balin was appointed first advisor to King Dáin, a position he accepted with quiet dignity and no mention of how he’d expected there to be another sitting on this throne.  
  
Óin was made First of the physicians, an honour he thanked Dáin for but ultimately declined as he preferred to have more time to devote to research and study.  
  
Glóin likewise declined a position as Royal Treasurer, in favour of spending more time with his wife and son who had come to join him in Erebor.  
  
Bifur and Bombur had more coin to their names than they could ever spend, but Bifur still elected to open a small toyshop and Bombur a bakery, both claiming that it was something to pass the time.

Ori made his escape into the libraries, even though he would not call it such. Everyone knew what he was running from, because while he and Fíli had not known each other for very long, and even though they’d not officially been courting, the wagers relating to the two of them had all been concerning ‘ _when’_ and not ‘if’. But even Ori managed to eventually find some measure of peace between tall shelves of ancient tomes.  
  
For four of the Company, peace proved to be even more elusive.

-

Bofur did not know what to say when Dáin offered him the position as head of the diamond mines, but he ended up accepting. Even so… surely it had to be a sign of madness that he quickly started to miss the days of making toys and being on the road. Erebor… it didn’t feel like the home he’d hoped it would be.

Dori found it difficult to settle in his new life. He was unaccustomed to being rich. To Ori having grown up. To not having to worry about Nori. To not having to worry at all because everything he could have wanted was provided for him. He was not sure that he liked it.

Dwalin was trying, he _really_ was, but regardless of what he did he could not get himself to move past the death of his oldest friend, as well as the two lads he’d known since they could fit into one of his hands. He slept poorly if he slept at all, turning down all suggestions Dáin and Balin made regarding working with the guards or with the army. He’d failed Thorin when his friend and King had needed him the most so what good was he to anyone else now?

And Nori… Nori was going to run away. To a place where everyone wouldn’t know his face and imagine that they knew him. Coin was no longer a problem, would never be a problem again. Dori and Ori were well taken care of and they would take care of each other. Everything would be fine, Nori told himself as he threw what little belongings he had collected into a knapsack.  Everything would be fine and he’d finally feel like he could _breathe_ again.

"You are leaving."

"I am,” Nori replied, not bothering to look up at Dwalin, or even get up from where he was kneeling next to his bed; trying to fish out the pair of socks he knew was beneath it. He’d heard Dwalin come in of course, would have known those boots anywhere. And now Dwalin would tell him that he needed to stay. That he-

"I- Can I go with you?"

Surprised Nori looked up, up at the most uncertain expression he’d ever seen on Dwalin’s face.  
  
“But- you’re finally home,” Nori said. “Erebor. You’ve made it.”

“Aye,” Dwalin said, shaking his head. “It’s a dream come true. But what use do I have for dreams when I wake every night to the image of Thorin dead at Azog’s hands. Or Fíli and Kíli at Bolg’s. Maybe if- if I’m not here. Then it’ll be easier not to-”  
  
He broke off, shaking his head again and Nori was silent for a few moments. Thinking. Deciding.  
  
“If you’re coming with me can I say that I’m just going to keep an eye on you? Dori will be less upset with me if that’s the case.”  
  
-

  
A few weeks later Bofur ran into Dori, quite literally. He was coming back from the mines and caught up in thoughts he just saw a flash of blue and silver before bumping into the other Dwarf.

“Oh I’m sorry-“ Bofur began before he realised who it was that he’d collided with in the hallway, upon realisation he grinned and pulled Dori back in for a quick hug. “Dori!”  
  
Bofur’s eyes widened when he moved back, and he quickly snatched his hands back, sending guilty looks at the mess he’d made of Dori’s clothes.  
  
“Oh bugger me, I’ve gone and gotten dust all over you.” Bofur lifted a hand to try and brush it away but thought better of it when he saw just how dust-dark his hand was.  
  
“It’s quite all right,” Dori said with a small smile, one that didn’t quite manage to reach his eyes.  
  
He was as pretty as ever, but he looked awfully tired and Bofur realised that it’d been quite a while since he spoke with Dori. They’d hardly seen each other since Nori left with Dwalin and it looked like Dori was taking it even harder than Bofur had assumed.  
  
Bofur opened his mouth to say something – what he wasn’t entirely sure - but his stomach got there before him and let out a loud, grumbling gurgle to protest that it’d been entirely too many hours since it last was fed.

Dori tutted and wouldn’t take no for an answer. “Come along then, there’s still leftovers from dinner.”  
  
There were. In fact there was enough that it easily fed Bofur until he felt as if he’d burst. Dori was as good of a cook as Bombur, and Bofur made sure to tell him so, carefully not asking if Dori was perhaps still cooking for three and not two.  
  
-

Nori didn’t really have any particular plan of where he was going, but Dwalin was content to follow him wherever he led. They started out with about three feet between their bedrolls, but it didn’t take many weeks before that space had shrunk down into nothing.  
  
They liked each other well enough, and Nori had always had a thing for big and burly just as Dwalin had had a preference for limber and mouthy.  
  
Fucking was a good distraction from thinking, and even when they didn’t fuck Dwalin didn’t have as many nightmares if he fell asleep with Nori’s heart beat drumming against the palm of his hand. He felt like he was taking advantage, but when he said as much to Nori the redhead only snorted.  
  
“If anyone is taking advantage here it’s me, you’re still grieving, you can’t be expected to make good decisions at the moment.”  
  
Dwalin shook his head. It was easy enough to want Nori just for being Nori, he was clever and beautiful and deadly, and he could easily find someone who’d not cling to him as if he a stuffed toy made for comfort. Someone who’d not slow him down on the road and who’d-  
  
“But who would I find who’d understand me like you do?” Nori asked, green eyes unguarded for once, and Dwalin didn’t have an answer.

He wasn’t the only one waking up in the middle of a night with a heart that was trying to pound its way out of his chest. Only for Nori it wasn’t images of Thorin and the lads lying bloody on snowy ground that set it racing.  
  
From murmured pleas and broken mutters Dwalin had figured out that for Nori it was Dori and Ori and golden-red dragonfire that haunted his dreams. As well as Trolls, and Stone-Giants, and Dori and Ori drowning in a rapid river. The threats were ever changing but always familiar and Dwalin understood.  
  
He’d seen all of that. Perhaps he’d have the same dreams if… if Thorin and Fíli and Kíli hadn’t been lost, and lost in a way that to Dwalin was even more horrible. But what Dwalin didn’t understand was how Nori thought things would get better by leaving Dori and Ori behind.

They were far from Erebor at this point, and if something happened to them Nori would not even know about it in months, if not longer.

But he didn’t tell Nori that, because that was none of his business. Instead he just held Nori when he shivered and hummed half-remembered songs beneath his breath until the heart beneath his hand beat in a more normal rhythm once again.

-

Bofur had always known Dori was extremely good looking. Way out of his league, but an admiring glance hadn’t hurt anyone had it. And being on the quest with him had only made him realise that there were plenty of other qualities to admire as well.  
  
-

Dori had always admired Bofur's spirit. And his green-grey eyes and steady hands.  
  
-  
  
Neither of them had expected to be more than friends.  
  
-

One night they stayed at an inn, and Dwalin almost cracked a goblet when one of the other patrons started flirting with Nori.

-

Nori admitted to himself that it wasn’t just fucking for the sake of fucking when Dwalin was badly injured in a fight against a Warg pack.  
  
-

Bofur finally asked to court Dori after trying to sum up the courage to do so over more dinners than he cared to admit.  
  
"I don't have much to offer you, but all I am is yours, if you want it. Want me."  
  
-  
  
“If you die I will never forgive you,” Nori hissed to Dwalin as he gently cleaned the deep bite wound in the larger Dwarf’s side.

-

Dori was quite sure that he loved Bofur, he was, but he didn’t know if courting, marriage, was a good idea. What if he was too set in his ways? What if he wasn’t the type that someone could live with? What if- what if that would make Bofur leave him?  
  
-  
  
“I can’t promise I’ll not ever leave,” Dwalin said into Nori’s hair, Nori lying pressed against Dwalin’s uninjured side; close enough that there was not even air between them. “But as long as I still draw breath I’ll follow you. Wherever you go.”

-  
  
“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want,” Bofur said, brushing his fingers along the side of Dori’s hand. “But I’d like to point out that I _am_ already living with you. I’m not even sure when I last spent a night in a bed that didn’t have you in it.”  
  
It had become home to him. And so had Erebor at last. And perhaps he should have told Dori this before, but it’d taken Bofur some time to realise it himself.  
  
-  
  
“And if I won’t know ever know where I’ll go?” Nori whispered when he was sure that Dwalin had fallen asleep.  
  
-  
  
Dori bit his lip. “It’s a bit rude to move in without telling me.”  
  
When Bofur grinned at him Dori’s heart did an entirely silly flutter that was all the more silly at his age.  
  
-  
  
“Then we’ll figure it out together,” Dwalin murmured, arm tightening around Nori’s waist. “Go to sleep now.”  
  
-  
  
They got married and it was a beautiful ceremony. The only thing missing was one brother and one friend, and Dori hoped that wherever Nori and Dwalin were they took care of each other.

-  
  
They got married, exchanging promises and weaving complicated braids into each other’s hair in accordance with the old traditions. No one was there to witness it, but that was just as well as Nori jumped Dwalin as soon as he’d finished the last braid and proceeded to do several things that would not have been fit for company.

 

-

 

And life, life went on.

 

**Author's Note:**

> First of my Nwalin week stories!
> 
> There will be one standalone story for every day this week.
> 
> Please note that these stories are going to be a bit bare bones, because I didn’t really have the time to do this but I *really* wanted to do this  
> So compromises were needed. Hope you've enjoyed this!


End file.
